Tag Archives: Google Wave

Google Wave might not be the best product of the year as it was made out to be. However, there are still many users who use it. Google Wave Desktop notifier is a Freeware and Open source software which will notify you about new waves in your Google Wave account in the system tray on your desktop.

Google Wave notifier can come in pretty handy if you do not want to keep up with new waves without having to open the website every time.

Thunderbird 3 is out with several exciting features (read Thunderbird 3 review), and people have already begun to discover hidden gems in it. The trick we will tell you, allows you to access Google Wave in Thunderbird 3.

Follow the tips given below to access Google Wave in Thunderbird 3.

Step 1: In Thunderbird, open the Error Console by choosing it from Tools > Error Console.

Step 2: Paste the text given below into the Code textbox and click on the Evaluatebutton.

Step 3: Once you click on the Evaluate button, you should see some messages in the error console, you can safely ignore them. However, when you open Thunderbird, you will see a new tab opened, which is loaded with the Google Wave website.

The tab will always remain open till you close it yourself, even if you close the Thunderbird application. If you close it by accident, follow the tricks listed above to get it back.

Google has actually acquired AppJet Inc., the creators of EtherPad and inducted them into the Google Wave team, according to a blog post from them.

Google Wave has been widely published but has still to get off the mark as many users are still clueless about how to use this service. One of the most important features in Google Wave is real-time collaboration, and this acquisition definitely fits their needs.

However, it would be good to see how Google uses the technology from AppJet as they already have something similar in the form of Google Docs.

We have just accumulated another round of Google Wave invites, if you are interested, leave a comment on this post that you want an invite.

Please don’t leave your email address in the comment, instead use the email address you want your Google Wave invite sent to in the form, and we will do the needful. All invites will be sent out on a first come first serve basis. We will keep pitching in as and when we can, so just leave a comment and we will keep you in mind.

One of the more interesting features of Google Wave is the ability to use Extensions and Gadgets to add new features to it. There are tons of extensions and gadgets which allow you to play games, access twitter and more.

Tech Exclusive has a list of 25 Google Wave extensions and gadgets which includes some handy utilities for accessing Wikipedia, accessing your Last.fm account, viewing local weather and more. Do check out the list to choose some of the best Wave extensions and gadgets for your account.

Google Wave has been making quite a splash. Only time will tell if Wave really has what it takes to change the way we communicate. But, people are certainly anxious to try it out. Wave invitations have been in great demand ever since its launch. So, it’s no wonder that someone has already developed a Firefox extension for Wave.

Google Wave Add-on for Firefox is a simple extension, which automatically checks your Wave account at a specified interval of time and notifies you if there are any unread wavelets. It sits quietly in the right hand corner of Firefox’s status bar and displays the number of currently unread wavelets. You can also get a quick preview of unread wavelets by hovering the mouse pointer over the status bar icon.

Techie Buzz Verdict

One of the major complaints against Wave has been that it is incredibly heavy. Having Wave always open in a background tab is a prospect that most users don’t relish. Google Wave Notifier allows you to close Google Wave when not required without missing out on any of the action.

The book can be accessed online for free, however, paid print editions will be available in January 2010. A paid PDF eBook will also be available for downloads in November 2009. If you have been overwhelmed by Google Wave, head to the Complete Wave Guide and get a hang of it.

Not so long ago, Google sent the Google Wave invites to a very small and select bunch of people. Soon the Twitterverse was (and still is) abuzz with the people clamoring for invites. Techie-Buzz in its own time also gave away invites and very soon we were hooked to Google Wave. Now, Jash Sayani has developed an app for Google Wave and by the looks of it, Waver is very usable!

Waver is based on the iPhone version of Google Wave and comes with a disclaimer right on the Adobe page itself:

This is an iPhone version of wave and running it on a computer might not load elements like buttons and other UI elements, however, you can click on the text and still use wave. Wave for iPhone is still under development and as it becomes more stable, this application will automatically work better.

However, this app is not all that bad when used. You can do the same things as the normal version of Google Wave minus the three columns. The same options are available on top of the app, and yes you can view embedded video and images! You will notice the same wave used for my first impressions post of Google Wave here.

The only thing missing from the experience is the spell checker. Spelly is notably missing, and I am guessing Google has not been implemented it for the iPhone version. Apart from that, my display picture is not being displayed. Since that sort of craziness keeps happening now and then, I blame that on Google’s beta-woes more than some inherent problem with the app itself.

However, it is a memory hog. The app takes ~82MB of the memory while Raptr which is an IM client based on AIR takes about half of that to run. This should be rectified in later versions.

Techie Buzz Verdict

In all Sayani’s app is well worth a look, especially if you are one of those who like to tweet via Google Wave. Once Google Wave has been completely released to the public, perhaps this app will prove to be more useful than what it seems to be now!

Now that Google Wave is out in the wild, we are back with another Ultimate List. This time around we are doing a ultimate list of tips and tricks, which will help you get started out with Google Wave, and also look at some really useful features and tools that you could put to use.

What Is Google Wave?

Before you even get started with Google Wave, here is a short and sweet video which answers the question What is Google Wave?.

While you are getting started out, watch a cute little video that attempts to make Google Wave simpler for end users.

11 Wave Tools That You Thought Never Existed

So you have been using Wave for quite sometime now, but do you know all the tools that exist? Orli, from Go2Web20 has put up a list of 11 Wave Tools You May Not Know Exist, which lists out tools that are really useful but haven’t reached the popularity level yet.

Google Wave Shortcuts, Filtering and more

Gina Trapani takes a look at Google wave shortcuts, filtering, bots and more in her extensive article, Google Wave 101.

Complete Guide to Google Wave

Ben Parr from Mashable, has written an excellent post about the what, why and how of Google wave. If you have just begun using Google Wave, don’t forget to read the Complete Google Wave guide.

Best Features in Google Wave

Once again, Gina Trapani who is definitely one of the experts using Google Wave, takes a look at several features and goodies in Google wave in her post, Google Wave Highlight Reel.

Google Wave Use Cases

Lifehacker readers responded to a poll to tell us the best use-cases of Google Wave. Check out, how users are using Google wave for education and collaborative learning, Healthcare, transportation and more at Google Wave’s Best Use Cases.

3 Google Wave Searches Worth Saving

Gina Trapani tells us about 3 searches that will come in pretty handy in Google Wave. The search keywords helps you to sort out waves that have only been sent to you, waves that have been created by you and your personal notes. Check out the post about 3 Google Wave Searches worth saving at Smarterware.

Educational Google Wave Videos

Here are some videos, which delve into several features of Google Wave, making it simpler to work with.

Dr Wave’s Intro to Google Wave

Live Collaborative Editing with Google Wave

Upload Photos and Embedding Images in Google Wave

Editing Waves in Google Wave

As always, this ultimate list of Google wave tips and tricks is non-exhaustive. We will keep adding new tips and tricks as and when we come across them. If you want to contribute your tips and tricks to the list, please feel free to leave a comment for us to consider.

I am sure you would love to get your hands on this novel collaboration tool called Google Wave that has created a humungous hype and is tremendously trending in the intrepid internet. Alliterations aside, we are giving away invites to you, for free (as in gratis). Each Wave account has eight invitations (as you can see in the screenshot) , and the Techie Buzz team is happy to announce that we will be giving away up to twenty free Google Wave invites to Techie Buzz readers pooled in from all the Wave accounts of the Techie Buzz team.

However, as always, there is a catch. You, reader, must leave a comment on this post or any of the other two posts linked to in this one telling us why you would want an invite. The best answers will be nominated for the invite as you can see from the screenie itself that the invites are not sent immediately. The specific words used by the Google Wave team are We have a lot of stamps to lick.

However, we will add the best comments to the invitation list. Do remember to put in your email ID when commenting (not in the body of the comment, but I am sure you knew that!)

As an added benefit, Tweeting any or all these posts might also increase your chances of getting an invite. So grab the opportunity now!

Update: Thanks for the overwhelming response. We have nominated some of the commentators for wave invites, we will be doing so for more of you in the next few days. Happy waving.